Project Overview
While raSmith has had the privilege of working on several projects for Gundersen Health System (GHS) in recent years, the new 77,000-square-foot Gundersen Tomah Clinic near Interstate 90 is the largest and most comprehensive facility we’ve been involved with to date. The new clinic allows GHS to offer their patients a wider variety of services all under one roof—more than ever before—including behavioral health, eye, oral surgery, orthodontics, pharmacy, renal dialysis and other specialty services.
One of the unique features of this project was constructing a concrete vault designed to house linear accelerators for cancer treatments. The reinforced concrete walls and ceiling of the vault needed to be three to six feet thick in order to block radiation from transmitting to the adjacent spaces. Special provisions were enacted for the mix design and curing procedures used for this massive concrete pour, such as batching the concrete with ice cubes instead of water in order to ensure that the concrete wouldn’t overheat as it began to cure, which would have caused large cracks to form in the vault.
The one-story portion of the two-story building features a vast solar array and is designed to accommodate a second floor level to allow for future expansion.
This project received a 2020 Top Projects award from The Daily Reporter.
Project Gallery
